Luis Carlos Fanta Tomaszewski (21 August 1890 – 8 December 1964), known as Carlos Fanta, was a Chilean football player, manager, referee, director of football, journalist, and pharmacist.

Carlos Fanta
Carlos Fanta in 1923.
Personal information
Full name Luis Carlos Fanta Tomaszewski
Date of birth (1890-08-21)21 August 1890
Place of birth Chillán, Chile
Date of death 8 December 1964(1964-12-08) (aged 74)
Place of death Santiago, Chile
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
1905 Industrial F.C.
1905–1907 Internado Nacional
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1905 Santiago National
1906–1907 Magallanes
1908–1911 Santiago National
1912–1919 Internado
International career
1913 Chile
Managerial career
1916 Chile
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Early years

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Fanta belonged to a German-Polish family. Both his father, Carlos Sr., and his mother, Alma, were distinguished professors who came to Chile in 1888 recruited by the President of Chile José Manuel Balmaceda along with their four children: Margarita, Olga, Federico and Kurt. In Santiago, they worked in the educational system reform of the Escuelas Normales (Normal school), moving after to Chillán where Carlos and his younger brother, Alfredo, were born. Carlos attended primary school at the Liceo de Chillán until 1905.[1]

Studying career

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In 1905, Fanta moved to Santiago and attended the Internado Nacional until 1907, getting a degree in Bachiller de Humanidades. In 1909 he graduated as PE teacher at the Instituto de Educación Física (Physical Education Institute). Then, he attended University of Chile and graduated as a Pharmacist in 1917.[1]

Football career

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Player

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Fanta was a goalkeeper. While studying in secondary school, he was with Industrial F.C. of Chillán (1905) and Internado Nacional Football Club of Santiago (1905–1907), becoming the team captain. Internado Nacional Football Club was founded in 1902 by the same Carlos alongside the teachers Leonardo Matus and Jorge Breñas.[2] Along with Internado Nacional, he won the Copa Municipal 1907 of the Asociación Arturo Prat. At the same time, he played for both Santiago National (1905) and Magallanes (1906–1907) and did track and field, also winning several medals.

After ending secondary school, he returned to Santiago National for 4 seasons (1908–1911). As a student of University of Chile, he played in the first Clásico Universitario – and the following matches – against the team of the Catholic University of Chile on 1 November 1909.

Alongside former students of Internado Nacional and students of the University of Chile, he participated in the foundation of the Club Atlético Internado – later Club Universidad de Chile – on 25 March 1911, becoming the President. After the club joined Asociación de Football de Santiago in 1912, he joined the first team until 1915. From 1916 to 1919, he played for the second team until his retirement.

At international level, Fanta took part of intercity matches representing Santiago versus Valparaíso, by which players were selected for the Chile national team. Fanta was called up to the Chile preliminary squad that would face Argentina in May 1910 in the context of the May Revolution centenary, but finally he didn't take part of the final squad.[3]

In 1913, he participated as both the delegation secretary and referee in a tour of the Chile national team in Brazil, but also played in a match against Liga Campista. The result was a 7–0 win.[1]

Referee

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Parallel to the fact that he was an sportsman, he performed as a referee. From 1905 to 1910, he refereed matches of Asociación Arturo Prat, then was an official referee of Asociación de Football de Santiago. In the 1913 tour in Brazil, he went with the Chile national team as a referee, taking part in three matches: against Brazil and America FC in Rio de Janeiro and against Liga Paulista in São Paulo.[1]

About the South American Championships, he took part in four editions: 1916, 1917, 1920 and 1924. In both 1916 and 1924 editions, he refereed the final match between Argentina and Uruguay. As a curiosity, the 1916 final match on 16 July was suspended at the beginning due to the fact the "Estadio G.E.B.A." was burned by people unable to gain entry due to undercapacity. So the match was restarted the next day in the Stadium of Racing Club.[4][2]

At national level, in 1933 he refereed the first final of the Chilean professional football between Magallanes and Colo-Colo. As an important achievement, he unified the Referees Association of Chile.[1]

Manager

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Unofficially coaching teams from 1911, in the 1916 South American Championship – where he performed as a referee – he became the first Chile national team manager.[5] He coached the matches against Uruguay (loss, 4–0), Argentina (loss, 6–1) and Brazil (draw, 1–1). Also, he coached Chile in the friendly matches against Argentina (loss, 1–0) and Uruguay (loss, 4–1) in July 1916.[6][4]

Leader

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Fanta was a prolific sports leader who held several managerial charges in both football and other sports:[1]

Journalism

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Despite not having formally studied journalism, he began his career in the newspaper La Mañana (The Morning) in 1914, becoming the director of the sports section until 1916. Also worked as a reporter for both sports magazines Match and Los Sports.[2] The next year he joined La Nación until his retirement from the activity, creating the sports section. As a correspondent, he went to several international competitions, like 1928 Summer Olympics, where he was with Manuel Plaza who won the first Olympic medal for Chile.[1]

Personal life

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While he was a college student, he performed as a deputy inspector – and later as a PE teacher – at the Internado Nacional. Outside of sports, he worked as a public official in the Ministry of Health (Drugstores Inspector), the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Finance (Administrator and Director of Control and Statistics of the Port Exploitation). In addition to this, he was the owner of the Botica Fanta (Fanta Drugstore) in Santiago, what was managed by his wife, Rosa Núñez, with whom had five children: María, Mario, Carlos, Enrique and Alma.

He died of a heart attack on 8 December 1964 and was laid to rest in the Santiago General Cemetery.[1]

Honours

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Player

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Internado Nacional
  • Copa Municipal – Asociación Arturo Prat: 1907

Individual

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Fundadores: Carlos Fanta y la Universidad de Chile". Asifuch (in Spanish). 5 June 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e Reyes, David (12 June 2016). "EyN: La increíble vida de Carlos Fanta, el chileno que fue entrenador y árbitro en la primera Copa América". www.economiaynegocios.cl (in Spanish). El Mercurio. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  3. ^ a b Martínez, Josafat (1961). Historia del fútbol chileno Tomo 1ero (PDF). Santiago, Chile: Imprenta Chile. pp. 52–55. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  4. ^ a b Marín, Edgardo (1985). La Roja de todos (Selección chilena de fútbol 1910–1985) (PDF). Santiago, Chile: SOEM Service Impresores. pp. 17–18. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  5. ^ Quijada, Vicente (21 August 2020). "Carlos Fanta: El primer entrenador de la Selección Chilena". laroja.cl (in Spanish). FFCh. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  6. ^ Don Balón, Especial (1998). Historia de la Selección Chilena: 1910–1998 (PDF). Santiago, Chile: ANFP. p. 3. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  7. ^ Acuña, Guillermo (25 March 2021). "Hoy se cumplen 110 años de la fundación del Internado FC, antecedente histórico del Club de Fútbol de la U. de Chile". DeporteAzul (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 October 2021.
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